Incidence rates of in-hospital carpal tunnel syndrome in the general population and possible associations with marital status.
BACKGROUND
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a socially relevant condition associated with biomechanical risk factors. We evaluated age-sex-specific incidence rates of in-hospital cases of CTS in central/northern Italy and explored relations with marital status.


METHODS
Seven regions were considered (overall population, 14.9 million) over 3-6-year periods between 1997 and 2002 (when out-of-hospital CTS surgery was extremely rare). Incidence rates of in-hospital cases of CTS were estimated based on 1) codified demographic, diagnostic and intervention data in obligatory discharge records from all Italian public/private hospitals, archived (according to residence) on regional databases; 2) demographic general population data for each region. We compared (using the chiscore test) age-sex-specific rates between married, unmarried, divorced and widowed subsets of the general population. We calculated standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for married/unmarried men and women.


RESULTS
Age-standardized incidence rates (per 100,000 person-years) of in-hospital cases of CTS were 166 in women and 44 in men (106 overall). Married subjects of both sexes showed higher age-specific rates with respect to unmarried men/women. SIRs were calculated comparing married vs unmarried rates of both sexes: 1.59 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.57-1.60) in women, and 1.42 (95% CI, 1.40-1.45) in men. As compared with married women/men, widows/widowers both showed 2-3-fold higher incidence peaks during the fourth decade of life (beyond 50 years of age, widowed subjects showed similar trends to unmarried counterparts).


CONCLUSIONS
This large population-based study illustrates distinct age-related trends in men and women, and also raises the question whether marital status could be associated with CTS in the general population.
Mattioli
Stefano
S
Occupational Medicine Unit, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, dell'Invecchiamento e Malattie Nefrologiche, University of Bologna, Italy. s.mattioli@unibo.it
Baldasseroni
Alberto
A
Curti
Stefania
S
Cooke
Robin M T
RM
Bena
Antonella
A
de Giacomi
Giovanna
G
dell'Omo
Marco
M
Fateh-Moghadam
Pirous
P
Melani
Carla
C
Biocca
Marco
M
Buiatti
Eva
E
Campo
Giuseppe
G
Zanardi
Francesca
F
Violante
Francesco S
FS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002349:Carpal Tunnel Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult